The Irish standard., 1887-11-26
VERY POOR. )"
Riches Fail 10 'Inpart Happiness
View of the Hard Reality.

What has become of the Wight
Mans?' + asked my old friend PaYson
7 had returned TO my native place at
ter all absence Of several years. Pay
son looked grave.
Nothing wrong with them, hspe
1Vlghtman was d clever man, and he
had pleasant family. ..
NV friend shook his head ominously,
He was doing very well when ! left,
said (.
All broken up now WIS answered.
He failed several years ago
ALI I'm sorry to hear this, What
has become Of hina?
4 see him now AID then, but l don't
know what he is doing.
And h1s fanaily?'
They live somewhere in Old Town.
| haven't met auY Of them for q long
time. Some one told me that they
were very l'oor,
This intelligence caused q feeling Of
sadness to peryade my mind. The tone
ana nlannsr OF i'ayson as used he the
words very poor gave to them a more
chan ordinary meaning. 1 SEW, in my
imagination, my Old friend reduced
from comfort and respectabllity TO a
condition of extreme poverty with all
it's suiTerings and humiliat1ons. While
my naindawas occupied with these un-
pleasant thoughts, my friend said:
You mnst dine with me tomorrow
Mrs. Payson will be glad to see yon, and
L want to have a long talk about old
times. We dine at three
| promised to be with them, in a ree-
ment with the invitation, and then we
parted. 1t was during business hours,
ard as my friends manner Waa some
what occupied and hurried, [ did not
thjnk it right to trespass on his time.
What l had learned of the Wightmans
troubled my thoughts. l could not get
them out of my rnnd. They We're estl-
mable people. had priced them above
ordinary acquainlances, and it did
seem peculiarly hard that they should
have suffered misfortune. Very poor
i could not get the words out of my
ears, The way in which they were
spoken involved more than the words
themselves expressed, or rather gave a
broad latitude to their meaning
Very poor! Ah mel The sigh was
deep and involuntary.
inquired Of several old acQuajnt-
ances whom l met during the day for
Wightmans, but all the satisfaction l
ceiyed was, Wightman had failed in
business several years before and was !
now living somewhere in Old Town in |
a very poor way. They are misery
POOR said one. 4 see Wightman coca
said another looks seedy
His girls take in sewing, |
have heard. said third, who spoke
with 9 slight air of contempt, as if
there was something disgraceful at
tached to needle work when pursued
as means of livelihood I would have
called durlng the day upon Wightman
but failed to ascertain his place of resi-
dence
Glad to see you! Payson extended
his hand with show o. cordiality as I
entered his store between two and three
o'clock on the next day. Sit down and
ook over the papers for little :while,'
le added. Ill be with you in a NOM
snt Just finishing up my bank busi-
ness
Il Business first, was my answer, as ! ].
sook the proffered newspaper. Stand
lpon no ceremony with me-
Z AS loayson turned partly from me and
,ent his head to The desk at which he
VAS sitting, 4 co,ald not but remark the
udde enlness with which the smile my Ii
sLil, ppea raallce had aWak kened faded fromI,
Iis b bscounte nance Before him Ilay1a pile Z
I thank 1ilts, Hsev veral check and quite.l
SafraYs Of ban Z notices He'll,
IisSSald B chez Is and sattsplf